Surge Lifts Dameworth to National Title : Cross-Country: Agoura High senior concludes an unbeaten season by pulling away to a 50-meter victory in the Kinney championships.

SAN DIEGO — Judgment Day arrived Saturday for Bryan Dameworth, the whiz kid whose undefeated season was put to a test in the Kinney national cross-country championships at Balboa Park.

Andrew Maris, a senior from White River High in Buckley, Wash., stayed with the Agoura High senior for the first 2 3/4 miles but could not keep pace thereafter as Dameworth won in 14 minutes, 49.9 seconds over the 5,000-meter course. Maris was second in 15:00.9.

Maris tailed Dameworth and Teddy Mitchell of Lyman High in Longwood, Fla., at one mile and Dameworth and Maris were tied for first at two miles (9:39). But Dameworth took control in the last quarter-mile with a closing surge to win by 50 meters.

“We were just going to see who would run out of fuel first,” said Dameworth, the fifth California runner in the meet’s 11-year history to win the national championship and first since Marc Davis (San Diego High) in 1986. “I was concentrating on hanging in there as long as I could.

“I was scared. He’s really tough.”

Dameworth, who had finished fourth in the 1988 national final, became the second Valley-area runner to win the title. Eric Reynolds won the 1982 championship in Orlando, Fla., as a Camarillo High senior.

Hoover senior Eliazar Herrera ran a strong final mile to finish 11th (15:25.2) after completing two miles (10:01) in 23rd.

“I just thought that it was my last race and I wanted to place as high as possible,” Herrera said.

“I ran what I could the last mile, all out.”

Arroyo Grande junior Louie Quintana, who shadowed Dameworth with second-place finishes in the Southern Section 2-A Division, state Division I and West regional championships, placed third in 15:10.0.

In the girls’ competition, Agoura junior Deena Drossin faded from fourth at the mile mark (5:25) and finished 13th in 18:14.3.

The season-closing meet was a disappointment for Drossin, who had hoped for a top-five finish after 11th- and 17th-place efforts the past two years.

“I just didn’t have it, I guess,” Drossin said.

Westlake’s Jeannie Rothman, eighth in the West regional, finished 16th in 18:32.7.